Engine.



No. 815,104. l PATENTED MAR. 13, 1906.

L. J. J.-B. LE ROND.

EN GINE. APPLICATION PILBD JUNB 21.1904.

L. J. J.-B. LE ROND. ENGINE.

APPLICATION .IILED JUNE 21, 1904.

. 2 SHEITS*SEEET Z.

i 35 J/MM W PATENTED MAR. 13, 1906.

' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LOUIS LES J EAN-BAPTISTELE ROND, OF PARIS, FRANCE.

. ENGINE.

Speci fication of Letters Patent.

Patntd*March 13, 1906.

Application filed J une 21, 1904. Seral No. 213,573.

Ta all w/wm 2325 may concern:

Be it known that I, LOUIS JULES JEAN- BAPTISTE LE ROND,'& citizen of the Republicof France, and a resident of Paris, France, have mvented a newand useful Improve ment in Engines or Pumps, which improvement is fully set forth in the following speci fication.

My invention relates to unprovemcnts in pumps or engines, and more especutlly .con sists in the provision of means for obtaining the benefits of steam-tightncss and an eco- -chamber or chambers associatedfor ex:

ample, in a double-expansion ngineeithcr with the high-pressure chamber or thelowpressure chambr, its characteristic features being that the said chamber or chambers 1s or are of substantially the same. size as the chamber with which it or they are associated,

' or an independent construction may be associated with both of said chambers.

It has been deterrnined that if an ordinary double-expansion engine with high and lW pressure chambers rendered steamtight by packings, &c., is employed, th1s engine would render as much work as Would an en gine similar thereto, but to which has been added a cylinder or chamber substantially equal in size, for example, to the low-pres' sure chamber, if the latter enginewcre also steam-tight; but if the steamt1ghtness is not perfect in this latter construction the presence of this additional chamber efiects a diminution of the escape of steam to the condenser and lncreases the pressure 1nthe lowpressure chamber n a manner to be set v forth in detail hereinafter.

In many cases it is very advantageous to use this recuperator construction instead of providing the engine or pump with pack 1ngs for example, in the case of rotary engmes in which the linear displacement of the pistons being always considerable With relation to the work produced the packings when they are employed absorb a large proportion of themtor-work. Furth r,- in ordinary reCiprocatory machines superhexted vapors cannot be employd at temperatures as-h1gh as can be used in turbines, because with the high temperatures used in the latter the Iubricant burns and the segments wear with extreme rapidity ev'enif they do not grip. This inconvenience of steamtightness loy packings and rubbing elements limits, therefore, the employment of the superheated fluid in the machines of rec1prOcatory movement or others, and in gasmotors of blast-rurnaces one of the prin- 'cpal difficultis which has to be overcome results from the presence of carbon particles carried by the gas, Which produCe wear on the packings in the cylinders despite the lu bficant.

From a technic.l point of view the novelty of the results consists in providing means for obtaining the same Work secured with a machine furnishd with packings with a machine employing no packings, and this characteristic Will permit the application of such last-mentioned machines 1n cases Where the ordinary motorSsupplied with packing would give only"bad reslts or Would not funtionas, for example} in the case of the rotary motors, motors of superheated vapors, or of gasmot0rSusd with blast-furnaCes, to which reference has been made.

The invention Wdl be better understood by reference to the accompaning drawings, illustrating the application of the invention t0 a rotary engine or motor, and in which- Figure 1 is a transverse vertical sectional view through the high or low pressure chamber of an ordinary double-expansion engine or through the recu erator-chamber used in conjunction with sai ordinary doubleexpan sien engine. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional 'vieW of an ordinary double-expansion engine. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of a double-expansion engine embodying the recuperator device of the present in- Vention. Fig. 4 illustrates diagrams of high andlow pressure of an engine with tWo workchambers, Supposedly steam-tight; and Fig. 5 illustrateS diagrams of an idntical engine, but in Which the steamtight packings are replaced by a reduperator-chambcr of the same dimensions as the lowpressre chamber.

Although the recperating device of my invention'may be placed at any part of the machine desiredas, for example, next to the high-pressure chamberso long as said chafloer Or chambers are of substantially the same volume as that of the chamber with which it'orthy are associated, in view of the fact that the sole escapes of steam which con. stitute a complete loss are the escapes to the.

-condens er,' it is accordingly at the chamber of loW pressure that it is best toapply the arrangement.

Referring to the drawings, passage a, Fi gs. 1, 2, and 3, is a conduit leading the escapement from the highpressure chamber 1 to the admission of 1ow-pressure chamber -2. Passage C, formed likewise,.Fig. 3, leads the escapement from the chamber of low pressure 2 to the admission of the second equaisi zed low-pressure chamber 2 Under these conditions if it is supposed that the machines are compieteiy steamtight the machine represented by Fig. 3 would do no more work than that represented in Fig. 2. In fact, piston P, Fig. 1, of chamber 2, for exampie, will have in said chamber 2 on its upper face the motor-pressure M and on its lower face the counterescapement pressure E. It Will be subjected, therefore, to a motor effort equal to ME. In Fig. 3 the piston P of chamber 2 will be subjected on its upper face to the motorpressure M equal to thepreceding. On its lower face it will-be subjected to the intermediate pressure I, which reigns in the two communicating parts of the equai chambers 2 and 2 The motorpressure on thepistonwiil thereforebe equai toM- I.

The corresponding piston Of chamber 2*, Fig. 3, Wiil have on its upper face the intermediate pressure I and on its iower face the counterpressure of escapement E. Itwiilbe subjected, therefore, to the motor-pressure IE. The combination of the pistons P of the two chambers 2 and 2 Wili be subj ected, therefore, to the motorpressure that is to say,the same pressure as in Fig. 2..

Suppose now that the machines are not exactly steamtight, which condition is almost necessary in rotary machines. The chamber 2 of Fig. 2 ioses a certain part of its pressure, which Will be proportional, on the one hand, to the mechanical play and, on the other hand, to the excess of the mean pressure M (indicated in Fig. 4, BP, of the first group of diagrams) over the counterpressure E in the condenser. If E is the loss of pressure resul-ting, the motor-pressure Will thus be reduced to M E. The chamber 2 cf Fig. 3 loses also a certain part of its pressure, which Will be proportional to the same mechanical piay and aiso to the excess cf motor-pressure over the counterpressure E; but here the pressure in 2 is the pressure I of escapement from the chamber 2smailer than M. Consequently the escape from 2 Fig. 3, Wili be smaller than the escape from 2, Fig. 1. The constant motor-pressure which acts in 2 is thus: ILY, a being smaller than E. Note this first diminution of escape. Fur ther, observe what passes in chamber 2: This chamber vents into chamber 2', and it follows from this that there Will be a certain loss of pressure 77 but this leak is aiso proportional to the mechanical play, which remains the same, and to the difference of the 1 and equai, for exampie, to as this escape 1s proportional to the mechanical play of which it is the consequence, the mechanical play is also proportional to It will have, theref0re, a value to a nearly constant coiiicient v, 72 being the speed of fiow of the fiuid;

but, on the other hand, this speed 12 increaseS with the diiference of pressure and confines this difference in factor to a certain power 6. We have, consequentiy, in the case of Fig.

3 an escape of the order of 1 6, which is smalier than whatever 8 may be. If we admit in order to simpiify that 1 and, for

exampie, that% we shail have the following resuits:

First. In the case of Fig. 3 the escape from 2 to the escapement WiIl be of the order of and the escape from 2 into 2 will be of the order of If we admit, in order to simpiify, by approximation that the escape from 2 is exactly-- and the escape from 2 exact-ly then the motor-pressure Will be equal to Second. In the case of Fig. 2 the escape 6 is, as we have aheady demonstrated, larger than but admit even that it is oniy and the advantage of the construction of Fig. 3 Wiil be no less evident, for we shall then have as a mean motor-pressure in Fig. 2:

the result we found in the case of Fig. 3.

The diagrams represented in Figs. 4 and 5 correspond to the working of my valveless rotary machines, for which United States patents have been granted. Consequently the counter-pressure in a work-chamber is exactiy the corresponding pressure in the following chamber. This understood, the first group of diagrams, Fig. 4, requires no further expianation. In the second group, Fig. 5, the motor-pressure of the chamber BP Would be constant if there were no, escape to the condenser, and the work of this chamber would be represented by a rectangle.

pressure by reason of the escape to the 0011- denser. The line of counterpressure of BP I is no other than this same line.

A11 that I have said in connection with two substantially equalsized chambers applies a fortiori in the case of three or more chambers, and this is true at whatever point in the ma- 'chine the recupcrator construction may be placed, and this recuperator construction 'may be placed, if desired, aftereach of the chambers of a multiplex-expansion engine or Iike apparatus, whatever may be-the number of said chambers.

. This recuperator construction may be employed in the head of the machine to limit in a precisemanner the quantity of vapor that can be admitted at each turn.

What I theref0re claim as new, and being my invention, is-

1. In a motor or like apparatus actuated by fluid pressure,* the combinatiOn With a primary pressure-chamber having fluid inlet and exhaust ports and a piston working freely therein and permitting limited Ieakage or escape of the motive fluid to the exhaust port, of a secondary pressure-chamber oi approximatcly the same capacity as the pri- -mary chamber having inlet and exhaust ports the former connected to the exhaustport of the primary chamber, and a piston working free y in the secondary chamber and permitting limited leakage or escape of the pressure fluid to the exhaustport of the secondary chamber.

2. In a compound motor or like apparatus actuated by fluid-pressure, the combination with high and low pressure cylinders or chambers and pistons working freely therein and each permitting limited escape or leakage of motive fluid to its corresponding exhaustport, of a secondary cylinder or chamber having approxiniatly the same capacit as the lowpressure chamber and having inlet and exhaust ports the former connected to the exhaustport of said lowpressure cylinder, v

and a piston Working freely in said secondary chamber and permitting limited escape or leakage of motive fluid to the exhaust-port.

3. In a motor or like apparatus actuated V by fluid-pressure, the combination with a pr1mary pressure-chamber having fluid inlet and exhaust orts and a rotary piston working freely tlerein and permitting limited leakage or esca e of the motive fluid to the exhaustport, oi a secondary pressure-chamber of-approximately the same capacity as the primary chamber having inlet and exhaustports the former connected to the exhaust-port of the primary chamber, and a rotary piston working frely in the secondary chamber and permittin limited leakage or escape of thepressure uid to the exhaustport of the secondary chamber.

4. In a compound motor or 1ike apparatus actuated by fluid-pressure, the combination With high and low pressure cylinders or chambers and rotary pistons working freely therein and each permitting limited escape or leakage of motive fluid to its corresponding exhaust port, of a secondary cylinder or chamber having approximately the same capacity as the lowpres sure chamber and having inlet and exhaust ports the former connected to the exhaustport of said low-pressure cylinder, and a rotary piston working freely in said secondary chamber and permitting limited escape or leakage oi' motive fluid to the exhaust-port.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesscs.

LOUIS JULES JEAN-BAPTISTE LE ROND. 1tnesses:

EMILE LEDRET,

HANSON C. COKE. 

